That One Kunai
by PabloandDuck
Summary: He got stabbed with a kunai, and she knew that it was all her fault. ShikaIno
1. Chapter 1: Gettign him back to the villa

**Pablo: Hope you like my new story. Duck is not helping me with this one. R&R**

**That One Kunai**

**By Pablo**

Chapter 1: All Her Fault

Shikamaru lay on the ground, a kunai sticking out of his chest. He was coughing blood up everywhere. His team and Kakashi's team are on a mission to get a traveler back to the Sound Village. They were greeted by two unfriendly road ninja about three miles out of Konoha.

"Shikamaru," Ino cried, tears flooding out of her cloudy blue eyes. She never realized how much she like the dark-haired shinobi until she saw him lying there. She had never seen Shikamaru look so helpless.

"I-Ino," Shikamaru managed to cough, "I-I…"

"Save your energy," Ino cried. In the next moment, Shikamaru became unconscious.

"Get up and protect the traveler," Asuma yelled back to his student, "He is the main focus right now."

"Sakura," Kakashi said, turning back to the pink-haired kunoichi, "try to heal some of Shikamaru's wounds."

Sakura and Ino seemed to switch places.

_I don't think that I can fight, _Ino thought, _especially since it's entirely my fault. If…_ A kunai came speeding toward Ino, and she froze. Sauske saved her; he caught the kunai just in time.

"Ino," Asuma scolded, "pay attention, and stop worrying about Shikamaru."

Ino nodded to show that she heard him.

After another five minutes of fighting, Kakashi and Asuma had eliminated the road ninja, and came rushing back to check on Shikamaru.

"How is he doing," Asuma asked Sakura,

"I was able to heal some of his wounds, Sakura replied, "but most of them are beyond my level of skill. I should get him back to Tsunade right away."

"I'll come too," Ino said.

"No," Asuma explained, "We are already losing two ninja, we don't need to lose anymore. You will stay with us. I'm sure this is nothing that Tsunade can't handle.

Without another word, Sakura slung the injured shinobi over her should, and began to walk. This was going to be a long three miles for her.

**Pablo: I hoped that you liked my first chapter. Sorry that it was short. You'll find out what happened to Shikamaru in the next chapter if enough people review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Informing the father

Pablo: Here is chapter 3. I hope you like it. Please go into my profile and read Duck's story Nobody's There. She doesn't have any reviews and she is really sad  Here is chapter 2 R&R!

Chapter 2: How will the father take it?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I would be planning the actual book.

It was a long three miles, but Sakura eventually made it. When she was finally was in the city, about five minutes before arriving at Tsunade's house, Shikamaru woke.

"Where's Ino?" he asked in a voice very faint.

"She…" but the she didn't get to answer before the lazy shinobi passed out again.

When the pink-haired kunoichi finally got to the 5th Hokage's office, she approached Shizune and said, "I need to speak with Hokage-sama right away."

When the Hokage's assistant saw the bloody Shikamaru over Sakura's shoulder, she immediately allowed the cherry blossom ninja in.

"Sakura what brings you hear, and why is Shikamaru on your back covered in blood?" a suspicious Tsunade asked.

"When we were on our mission, Shikamaru was stabbed with a kunai," Sakura explained, "I did all that I could to heal him, but most of his wounds were beyond my level. That is why I brought him to you; the best medic I know."

"Why, Sakura, I am flattered, I will do my best on this young man." Tsunade said proudly, "Why don't you go inform Shikamaru's father while I do my best heal this young man's wounds."

Sakura's p.o.v

I really don't want to be the one to break the news to Shikamaru's father, but I guess that I can't disobey a direct order from Tsunade-sensei. Oh well, I guess that it can't be that hard if his dad is anything like him. Maybe he will just fall asleep.

Back to Author's p.o.v

Sakura rang the doorbell, and a tall, dark-haired man wearing a Chunin vest and black pants answered the door.

"Can I help you young lady?" the tall man asked.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. As you know, your son Shikamaru was on a mission today…"

"You better come sit down," the man interrupted.

Sakura went into Shikamaru's house. It was actually very pretty inside. It had blue walls covered in white clouds. The family room that Sakura was sitting had beige couches, and light brown coffee and end tables.

"Please continue," he asked Sakura.

"During our mission today," Sakura began, "We were about three miles out of Konoha when we were attacked by two unfriendly road ninjas originally from the sound village. Asuma and Kakashi-sensei were fighting them, but a kunai got loose, and headed strait for Ino. Shikamaru attempted to jump in front of Ino to try to block the attack, but he missed and instead was stabbed in the chest with a kunai. He survived the attack, and I healed some of the minor wounds, but most of it was beyond my level. He is currently under Tsunade's care. I will update you when I ever I hear anything on Shikamaru's medical status."

Saying that Sakura walked out of the injured shinobi's house and headed strait for the Hokage's office.

Pablo: I know it is short still, but please review. It is a little longer! And please read Duck's story Nobody's There.


	3. Chapter 3: A Mission Without a Shikamaru

**Pablo: Here is chapter three! I hope you likey!!!! R&R!**

**Chapter 3: Barbeque, or Shikamaru**

Ino wouldn't face anyone, because she didn't want anyone to see her cloudy blue eyes filling up with tears. She likes Sauske, not Shikamaru. Still, she couldn't help noticing the way he stepped in front of her when she froze.

Only Chouji said something to the blonde kunoichi, "Don't worry, Ino, I'm sure that Sakura got your lover boy back to Tsunade's office."

"What are you talking about, I love Sasuke, not Shikamaru" Ino barked, trying to stop crying. _Do I like Shikamaru? _She questioned herself, _No I love Sasuke! No way the lazy Shikamaru could take the place of the fantastic Sasuke._

Finally, they arrived at the sound village, and Ino said, "Okay, we're here, now we can go. Right?"

"Well," the traveler replied, "I would love it if you could stay for dinner. We are having barbeque ribs for dinner and we would love it if you could stay." When the traveler said that, Chouji's eyes lit up, and his stomach rumbled.

"Please can we leave, Asuma sensei," Ino begged.

"We can't do that to Chouji, now can we," the dark haired sensei replied,

"But…what about Shikamaru?" the blonde kunoichi shrieked, "or don't you care about him."

With saying that, Ino ran off toward the gates again. She wanted to stop and apologize, but she couldn't, her mind wasn't controlling her legs, her heart was.

"I will track her down," Kakashi replied, "We only met up with two of the assassins, there are probably many more lurking throughout the woods." With saying that, Kakashi took off into the woods the direction Ino went.

**Pablo: Well I hope that you like it! I know that it was short. Please review anyway.**


	4. Chapter 4: He Popped a Lung

Pablo: I am going to continue the part of the story with Sakura, and you find out what happened to Shikamaru if you didn't already find out from the chapter name.

**Chapter 4:He Popped a Lung**

Sakura just arrived at Tsunade's office, when she barged into the office and asked, "How is he doing?"

"He popped a lung, I don't know if he will make it. I took him to a hospital, and they are looking after him, but because of you he has a fighting chance. If you didn't heal some of the wounds, he would have lost too much blood, and he wouldn't be living right now. Why don't you go get your clothes changed?"

"I can't," Sakura said running out of the door, "I have to get to the hospital right away."

Five minutes later, Sakura arrived at the hospital panting. She ran up to the reception desk. "Tell me what room Shikamaru Nara is in." She demanded.

"Are you his sister?" the receptionist asked.

"No," Sakura replied, "I am his teammate."

"I am afraid that I can't allow you to see him since you are not his relative." The receptionist said trying to sound sympathetic, but Sakura could tell that she was annoyed.

"Fine, then I'm his sister." 

"Sorry honey, I can't allow you to go in there."

"Ugh, I'm going to see the Hokage," with that she stormed out of the hospital.

"Tsunade sensei," Sakura whined, "they won't let me in to see Shikamaru."

"I'm afraid that I cannot do anything about that. They are just doing their job." Tsunade said trying to sound sympathetic, "If you want to see Shikamaru, you have to get his fathers permission to be his medical assistant."

"Thanks Tsunade-sama," Sakura called back, "I'm off to Shikamaru's house to tell his father an update and get permission."

"Wait Sakura…" Tsunade yelled for her to come back, but it was no use, Sakura was already gone,

Sakura was running full speed at the lazy shinobi's house to greet his father. Although, she just remembered that she had to tell the father that Shikamaru popped a lung a may not make it. She didn't know how she was going to tell him, so she started walking. She was so caught up in her thoughts; she almost passed up Shikamaru's house. She took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. Once again, the same tall man answered.

"Do you have an update on my son," he asked.

"Yes," she replied, "He popped a lung, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to give you anymore updates."

"Why not?"

"I'm not allowed in his hospital room without your permission." 

"Well, you have my permission. I don't think that I will be able to see him like this."

All of the sudden, Shikamaru's father got tears in his eyes, "He is my only son, and if I lose him, I don't know what I'll do. The sad part is, he would have died for a girl."

"I assure that the girl that he jumped in front of feels very bad. She wanted to come back, but her sensei wouldn't allow her. She is torn up about it."

"What did you say that girls name was?"

"Ino. Why?"

"The same Ino that is on his team."

"Yeah."

"He loves her with all of his heart. Ever since he was put on her team. He pretends not care about anything or anyone. But he defiantly cares about her. He's always liked her, but I guess she is chasing that Uchiha kid."

"I have a feeling that Ino doesn't like Sasuke. I think that she likes Shikamaru, but we have had a rivalry for a long time; ever since she started to like Sasuke. We had a competition. I don't think that she likes Sasuke, I think that she just doesn't want to lose to me."

"Thank you, and here is a written excuse, allowing you to see Shikamaru." 

"Thank you for your time."

With that, Sakura left, and made her way to the hospital so that she could get in to she Shikamaru."

**Pablo: Another chapter done, I have the ending planed out, I just haven't figured out how to get there.**


	5. Chapter 5: Will He Catch Her?

Pablo: I AM THE MASTER OF BUBBLES! Please R&R 

**Chapter 5: Will he catch her?**

Kakashi was chasing Ino as fast as he could go, but she did have the upper hand, she got a head start. He thought that he saw the tip of her ponytail off in the distance; only, he hoped that it wasn't her. He hoped that because she wasn't alone. She was tied up to a tree bleeding from head to toe.

"Ino," he whispered to himself. He snuck a little bit closer to see how many ninja were there. He was relieved when he saw that there were only five, and they didn't look very tough. He figured he would send shadow clones after them, so that he could test their skills.

When Ino saw him she screamed, "Hahashi-hehei," she was trying to say Kakashi sensei, but it came out weird with the gag in her mouth.

"So," Sound Ninja One began, "Do you know the girl."

"You could say that," Kakashi stated, "She is my student after all."

"She failed, why don't you just let us kill her?" Sound Ninja three said.

"Because…I never would let my comrades die!" saying that, Kakashi threw three kunais at the first ninja. He dodged two of them, but the last one was a hit. He stumbled around for a little, but he finally fell to his death, "So, one down, and four to go."

Kakashi easily destroyed the last four ninja without a problem, and freed Ino. She immediately wrapped her arms around him crying her eyes out, "I'm so worried about Shikamaru. I just want to get back to Konoha so that we can make sure he is okay."

Kakashi was terrible with crying women, normally; he would just let his team go home when Sasuke turned down a date from Sakura. "It's okay," he said stroking her hair trying to be comforting. Why don't we go back to the village so that we can get the others moving on that barbeque?"

"Okay," Ino said with a slight laugh.

When they got back to the sound village, the others met her at the gate. They were barely in sight, when Asuma went ballistic, "Are you aware how much you scared us, you saw how Shikamaru got hurt, and…" 

Kakashi could see Ino's eyes welling up with tears at the mention of Shikamaru's name, so he interrupted, "We already had this talk, with all do respect."

"Oh, in that case, why don't we get a move on back to Konoha.

_**Meanwhile, back in Konoha.**_

"I got permission," Sakura said marching up to the receptionist.

"I'm afraid that I can't allow you to go in right now." The receptionist told Sakura.

"Why not now?" Sakura asked in a snood like tone."

"Because," the receptionist answered, "He is in surgery, but you can talk to his doctor about his condition if you want"

"I guess that will do."

Within seconds, the receptionist was on the phone with Shikamaru's doctor, and he arrived in seconds.

"Will he make out of surgery okay?" Sakura asked in a worried tone.

"He will make it out of surgery alive, but he may not wake up afterwards." The doctor said sounding concerned.

"Oh gawd," Sakura said taking a seat, "Are is chanced good or bad."

"His chances are different from most people's, because he is in such good shape, I think that being a ninja and training everyday has helped him. His body is defiantly fighting though," After the doctor answered Sakura's question, he was paged into Shikamaru's room.

Back somewhere in the woods 

"We are only about two days from getting home and I can see Shikamaru. I think that I will take him out for Ramen to celebrate his recovery."

"It is starting to get dark, and I think that we should set up camp here where it is open, but yet hidden," Kakashi said, trying to stop Ino from getting her hopes up too high.

"We only have two tents left, so Kakashi and I will each monitor one of them. How about Naruto and Sasuke stay with you, since they are your students, and Ino will stay with me since she is my student." Asuma suggested.

"Are you seriously considering letting Naruto and Sasuke sleep in the same place," Kakashi asked.

"That's true, I will take Naruto, and you will stay with Sasuke." Asuma said.

"Why don't we all just sleep in one big happy family?" Ino suggested.

"I guess that will work," Asuma said. They had come to a conclusion.

**Pablo: This one is defiantly bigger, so no complaining.**


	6. Chapter 6: Operation: Fail or Success

Pablo: hope that you like chapter 6. R&R 

**Chapter 6: Operation: Success or Failure**

Sakura was rubbing her temples. It had been seven hours, since she spoke to Shikamaru's doctor, and she had a terrible headache. She really hoped that Ino was okay. She always knew that he like her, but was just too afraid to show it. She considered going to get some Ramen, but wanted to make sure she was there incase anything happened to the lazy shinobi.

"He is not awake, but you can go see him," the doctor told Sakura, "He lived through the operation, but I don't think that he is going to wake up."

Tears flooded Sakura's eyes to the point where she couldn't see anymore. There was no way Shikamaru could die. Ino never got to say goodbye. She knew she would have to regain her thoughts before she could go in to see him, but then again, he could be dead by then. She decided to go in and see him. When she got to his room, she started to cry even harder. Not because of seeing Shikamaru like this, but because she knew that Ino wouldn't be able to handle it. She knew that Ino was her rival, but she couldn't just not care. If anything ever happened to Shikamaru, there is no telling what she would do. She would defiantly never love anyone again. And what about Chouji, he probably wouldn't take it well here. Shikamaru was his best friend, and he couldn't just die. Sakura knew she was thinking to hard, and she had to clear her thoughts, she ran out of the hospital, and into the woods. She was going to run for a while.

Somewhere 20 miles out of Konoha 

Ino was so busy thinking; she never got to sleep that night. Was she in love with Shikamaru? Naruto fell asleep hours ago on her arm and she didn't even notice until now. She was so caught up in her thoughts; she immediately became overwhelmed again, and didn't even notice until he woke up in the morning.

"Good morning," Naruto yawned.

"Let's wake up everyone else, and maybe we can get to see Shikamaru today. I saw a sign on our way here, and we are only twenty miles away from Konoha." Ino screamed. She didn't get any sleep, but she was still as hyper as ever.

When she went to wake up Kakashi and Sasuke, they were already awake, standing outside the tent.

"Good mooooooooooring," Ino sang, "I saw a sign on our way here, and we are only twenty miles away from Konoha, so I think that if we get moving; we will be able to see Shikamaru today!"

The rest of the team came out of the tent, and Ino wasted no time beginning to pack up the tents. She officially knew that she was in love with Shikamaru instead of Sasuke. Shikamaru put his life on the line to try and save her. Sasuke stepped in front of her also, but he would have never done that if he wasn't one hundred percent sure that he would live too.

In about five minutes, they were on the move. Ino was moving at least twenty feet ahead of everyone. By sundown, they were only one mile away from Konoha.

_**Back in Konoha.**_

When Sakura was on her walk, she caught a quick glimpse of a blonde ponytail, and ran back to the city. She didn't realize how far she had run. She decided to meet them at the gates.

After ten minutes of waiting, they arrived. Before she could completely see Ino, she began to sprint toward Sakura. When she got there she asked, "Where is Shikamaru?"

Sakura began to cry. Through her weeps she said, "They don't think that he is going to wake up though. He popped a lung, it was a very severe surgery."

Ino slapped Sakura across the face a screamed, "This isn't some joke, forehead girl; this is Shikamaru's life."

"I know," Sakura cried, "I'm not lying."

"I'm so sorry Sakura," Ino said hugging her; crying her eyes out, "I have to go see him."

Ino went running off toward the hospital. Sakura took off after her, because she knew that the people wouldn't let her in without Sakura.

"I want in Shikamaru Nara's room." Ino shrieked.

"She's with me," Sakura panted.

"Go right ahead," the receptionist said in a nasally voice.

Ino ran after Sakura into Shikamaru's room. She saw Shikamaru laying there, not moving. Only a machine was keeping him alive.

"Sh-Sh-Shikamaru," Ino screamed at the top of her lungs. Burring her face on his lap. She thought Sakura was kidding.

"I-I c-c-c-can't s-see him l-like th-th-this." Ino cried out running off and then home.

**Pablo: ooooooo will Shikamaru live? Review if you want to find out**


	7. Chapter 7: Never Lose Hope

**Pablo: This is the last chapter, so I hope that you are satisfied.**

**Disclaimer: In my dreams**

**Chapter 7: Never lsoe hope**

As soon as Ino got home, she was lying out on her bed crying, pictures of her squad he together. Everyone would be torn apart if he died, and she knows that if he does die, if would be all her fault.

The doctors were in Shikamaru's room. They have decided that he isn't going to live, and they pull the plug.

Ino sensed something was wrong, and she just knew that they had done it. They killed him. She began to cry even harder. Nothing could make this day right. He was dead. She was always coming down on him because he didn't think Sasuke was amazing. The love of her life just died, and she couldn't do anything about it.

Sakura was sitting at home, and she felt the same cold sensation Ino had, she too, knew that Shikamaru was now a goner.

Kakashi and Asuma were in the room when the pulled it. Asuma knew he was a good student, even though he was lazy.

All of the sudden Ino heard a knock on her front door.

"Go away!" She shrieked as loud as she could, but they came in anyway. She was never coming out again. He was dead and she knew it was her fault. She grabbed the kunai out of her ouch, and held it at her chest. She could didn't think she could live knowing it was her fault, and she wasn't going to stay and find out. The kunai was a centimeter away from her chest, when a familiar arm grabbed hers.

"I could never allow you to do that." The voice said, pulling her into a long, passionate kiss.

"Shikamaru," she cried, "I thought that you were dead. I was almost sure that they killed you." She was now crying as hard as she could into the hurt shinobi's chest.

"It was very strange, I heard was in a dream, kunais were flying at me in all directions, and I just wanted to die, until I heard your voice saying my name. The last thing I remember was seeing your hair fly out of my room."

By the end of the story, Ino was crying as hard as she could. There was no denying that she loved him more than she could ever say. Once more, he pulled her into a kiss that neither one ever wanted to break.

**Pablo: The end. I know that it was short, but I didn't make Shikamaru die. . Please review.**


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